About the G7 and G8 Research Group

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The G7 and G8 Research Group is a global network of scholars, students and professionals in the academic, research, media, business, non-governmental, governmental and intergovernmental communities who follow the work of the G7, the G8 and related institutions. The group's mission to serve as the world's leading independent source of information, analysis and research on the G7/8. Founded in 1987, it is managed from Trinity College and the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. Professional Advisory Council members, Special Advisors and participating researchers span the world. Trinity College's John W. Graham Library has become the global repository of G7/8 documents, transcripts, audiotapes, media reports, interviews, studies, essays, memorabilia and artifacts.

The membership of the G7 and G8 Research Group consists primarily of academics, business professionals and students from around the world. Much of the research activity is conducted by doctoral, masters and senior undergraduate students at the University of Toronto and elsewhere, and by alumni/ae of the group who have gone on to professional careers in related fields but have remained involved. Each year, the G7 and G8 Research Group recruits analysts and researchers who work on compliance and related research projects under the direction of a student executive based at the University of Toronto.

Enriched by their experience in the G7 and G8 Research Group, members have gone on to pursue careers with organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, General Electric, Dominion Securities, the Royal Bank of Canada, Andersen Consulting, the Monitor Company, the Bank of Montreal, Bloomberg, The Globe and Mail, the National Post, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CNN, Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, and other ministries and departments of the Government of Canada, Canadian Pacific Railway, law firms in Europe and North America and universities in Japan, Canada and the United States. Several have started their own enterprises.

Since its founding in 1987, many distinguished international experts have contributed significantly. In addition, the Professional Advisory Council and Special Advisors help create strategic partnerships with experts and major academic institutions from the summit countries.

The academics at the University of Toronto who have been involved in the G7 and G8 Research Group include the Honourable Bill Graham of the Faculty of Law and Canada's former minister of foreign affairs; Leonard Waverman, formerly of the Department of Economics; Louis Pauly and Michael Donnelly of Political Science; Robert Bothwell of History; Wendy Dobson of Management Studies, and Sylvia Ostry.

The G7 and G8 Research Group is responsible for the G8 Information Centre, which contains the world's most comprehensive and authoritative collection of information and analysis on the G7 and G8. The research group assembles, verify and post documents from the meetings leading up to and at each summit, the available official documentation of all past summits and ministerial meetings (in several G8 languages), scholarly writings and policy analyses, research studies, scholarship information, links to related sites and the "briefing books" for each summit published by Newsdesk Media. The website contains the annual reports on G7/8 members' compliance with their summit commitments, produced by the G7 and G8 Research Group and its partner at the International Organisations Research Institute at the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow.

Who We Are

John J. Kirton [email] is director of the G7 and G8 Research Group, and co-director of the G20 Research Group, the Global Health Diplomacy Program and the BRICS Research Group, all based at Trinity College at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. He is also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at China's Renmin University. A professor of political science, he teaches global governance and international relations and Canadian foreign policy. He has advised the Canadian and Russian governments, the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization on G7/8 and G20 participation and summitry, international trade and sustainable development, and has written widely on G7/8 and G20 summitry. Kirton is the author of many chapters and articles on the G7, G8 and G20. His most recent books include G20 Governance for a Globalized World (Ashgate, 2012) and (with Ella Kokotsis), The Global Governance of Climate Change: G7, G20 and UN Leadership (Ashgate, 2015), as well as The G8-G20 Relationship in Global Governance, co-edited with Marina Larionova (Ashgate, 2015), and Moving Health Sovereignty in Africa: Disease, Govenance, Climate Change, co-edted with Andrew F. Cooper, Franklyn Lisk and Hany Besada (Ashgate, 2014). Kirton is also co-editor of several publications on the G8, the G20 and the BRICS published by Newsdesk Media, including G20 – The Australia Summit: Brisbane and G7: The 2014 Brussels Summit.

Madeline Koch [email] is the managing director of the G7 and G8 Research Group, the G20 Research Group, the BRICS Research Group and the Global Health Diplomacy Program, all based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at Trinity College in the University of Toronto. She is co-editor, with John Kirton, of the series of publications on the G8, the G20 and the BRICS and published by Newsdesk Media, including G20 – The Australia Summit: Brisbane and G7: The 2014 Brussels Summit. She has participated in the G8 and G20 Research Groups' field teams on site starting in 1989 and at every G8 summit since 1999 and every G20 one since 2008.

Ella Kokotsis, PhD, [email] is the Director of Accountability for the G7 and G8 Research Group and the G20 Research Group at the Munk School of Global Affairs at Trinity College in the University of Toronto. An expert on summit accountability and compliance, she has consulted with the Canadian government's National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations on their African development agenda, with the Russian government on global health issues in the lead-up to the 2006 St. Petersburg Summit, and with the Government of Canada on numerous summit-related issues during the 2010 Canadian G8 and G20 Summits. Her scholarly methodology for assessing compliance continues as the basis for the annual accountability reports produced by the G8 and G20 Research Groups. She is author of Keeping International Commitments: Compliance, Credibility and the G7 Summits and co-author of The Global Governance of Climate Change: G7, G20 and UN Leadership (Ashgate, 2015), as well as many articles and chapters. She leads the group's work on climate change, energy and accountability.

Caroline Bracht, M.Ed., [email] is a senior researcher for the G7 and G8 Research Group, G20 Research Group, BRICS Research Group and Global Health Diplomacy Program, based at the Munk School of Global Affairs in Trinity College at the University of Toronto. She has researched and written on G7/8, G20 and BRICS compliance, specifically on development, climate change and energy commitments. She has recently co-authored articles entitled "Generating Global Health Governance through BRICS Summitry" in Contemporary Politics and "Connecting Climate Change and Health through Global Summitry" in World Medical and Health Policy. She was the lead researcher for a project commissioned by the International Labour Organization on the G20's implementation of the commitments in the Seoul Development Consensus. Caroline leads the group's work on education, social policy, health and compliance.

Julia Kulik, MPP, [email] is a senior researcher for the G7 and G8 Research Group, G20 Research Group, BRICS Research Group and Global Health Diplomacy Program, based at the Munk School of Global Affairs in Trinity College at the University of Toronto. She has researched and written on G8, G20 and BRICS performance particularly on the issues of regional security and gender equality. She has recently co-authored articles entitled "Generating Global Health Governance through BRICS Summitry" in Contemporary Politics and "Connecting Climate Change and Health through Global Summitry" in World Medical and Health Policy. She has delivered several papers including "A BRICS Alliance within the G20? Assessing the Performance of BRICS Members" at PUC Minas in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, "The Role of Space and Place in Informal Security Arrangements: The Case of the G8" at the 2014 International Studies Association Convention in Toronto and "Working for Women's Security" at the Pre-G8 Summit Conference at Queen's University, Belfast in June 2013. Julia leads the group's work on gender, women's health, regional security and summit performance.

Enko Koceku [email] is chair of the executive of the G7 and G8 Research Group. He has been involved in the research group since 2010, beginning as a researcher and then serving as co-director of compliance in 2012 and 2013. He was appointed chair in 2013 and led the field team to the 2013 Lough Erne Summit in Northern Island and the 2014 Brussels Summit. He completed his Honours BA in political science with a minor in English at the University of Toronto in 2014.

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Regional Offices

Brussels, Belgium: Irina Liner [email]
London, United Kingdom: Nancy Scott [email]
Moscow, Russia: Victoria Panova, PhD [email]
Rome, Italy: Chiara Oldani, PhD [email]
Tokyo, Japan: Shinichiro Uda [email]

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Contact Us

G7 and G8 Research Group
Trinity College
6 Hoskin Avenue
Toronto ON M5S 1H8
Canada
1-416-946-8953
g8@utoronto.ca
Twitter: @g8rg

—	This Information System is provided by the University of Toronto Libraries and the G7 Research Group at the University of Toronto.
	Please send comments to: g7@utoronto.ca This page was last updated August 15, 2024.